Noah Farley, a senior studying communication at BYU-Idaho, wrote, recorded, edited and designed concept art for his original children’s show, Strangely Familiar.
The story follows a young wizard, Nigel, who accidentally turns his parents into stone upon receiving his powers. Nigel, with the help of his three talking cats, set out to complete a set of tasks from the Magical Realm Council to reverse the spell. Unbeknownst to them, they’re part of a TV show with millions of viewers. The tasks are only given to them to entertain the audience.
Farley drew inspiration from TV shows he grew up watching, like Arthur and Sabrina the Teenage Witch.
“I thought about the TV shows that I used to watch as a kid and I thought about the archetypes that I like to represent,” Farley said. “Like the lazy, tired character was the first one that came to my mind.”
Farley voiced all of the characters, including Nigel, the young wizard; Blaze, a cat who loves chasing adrenaline; Gunther, a cat who is always ready for a cat nap; Bennington, the most uptight cat; and Magic Councilor, one of the oldest members of the Magical Realm Council.
“I wanted to do this because I want to be a voice actor someday, and I thought this would be a great opportunity,” Farley said.
